Hidden Valley Raceway (Darwin), Racing Circuit

Hidden Valley Raceway lies just a few minutes' drive from downtown Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory and is the centrepiece of a 94-hectare motorsport complex owned by the Northern Territory Government. Alongside the racing circuit the site contains a 1km ANDRA drag strip running parallel to the main straight, the Northline Speedway clay oval and a kart circuit, and it remains open year-round for local events, testing and track days. The facility's origins lie with drag racing, which moved to the Hidden Valley site after the government, backed by Chief Minister Marshall Perron, announced in 1979 that land 15km from the city centre would be developed for the sport. The new drag strip opened in June 1985, and a full road circuit followed the next year, initially a dusty venue suited only to local competition. Its breakthrough came in 1997 when a deal brought the Australian Touring Car Championship north for the first time, prompting a $2.5 million upgrade that built a dedicated main straight separate from the drag strip. That inaugural Supercars round was a success, with Craig Lowndes taking victory, and the championship has returned every year since. The 2.870km lap features a long main straight of roughly 1.1km feeding into a flowing sequence of fourteen corners, and the layout has remained essentially unchanged while pit, barrier and surface upgrades have modernised the venue. Held in the cooler 'dry season' of late June or early July, the annual Supercars event, now known as the Darwin Triple Crown, is one of the largest sporting occasions in the Territory.

Operated by: NT Government (operated by Darwin Motorsport Park Inc)